Tag package



NOV. 9, 1937. w, BQRCHERT 2,098,611

TAG PACKAGE Filed July 23, 1954 Patented Nov. 9, 1937 TAG PACKAGE William Borchert, Rockford, Ill., assignor to The Tagit Company, Rockford, Ill., a corporation of lllinois Application July 23, 1934, Serial No. 736,497

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a new and improved package for the storage and shipment of laundry tags of the general type disclosed in Borchertl Patent 1,120,592.

Laundry tags of the kind referred to are substantially U-shaped and it is preferred to pack the same in rows, open side up, so that a comblike picker can be used in transferring the tags, one row at atime, to the machine for applying the tags to garments. It has been the practice to pack the tags in layers in a cardboard box with a cardboard between each layer as a separator, but, as explained hereinafter, an ordinary flat piece of cardboard does not offer the proper v support, if the tags at the ends of the rows rely upon the side walls of the box for support, and, as a result, the tags get jumbled and it is unhandy to remove the tags in the usual way. An effort was made to overcome this dificulty by providing a frame into which the box of tags could be set so as to prevent outward bulging of the sides of the box away from the endmost tags in the rows, but that was unsatisfactory and was not considered a practical solution of the problem, because there was still too much likelihood of end tags getting forced down past the edges of the cardboard separators into the layers of tags beneath and causing the whole boxful to become disarranged. n other words, it required very careful handling of the tags and a slight mishap would throw the ve layers of tags, to wit: 1000 tags, into disorder. Itis, therefore, the principal object of my invention toprovide a package in which the separators are flanged upwardly at the ends of the rows to hold the end tags in position more or less independently of the side walls of the box, afford the requisite additional stiffness to the separator, and also reenforce the sides of the box, so that the rows of tags remain intact and it is easier to pack and remove-the same.

The invention is fully described inthe following specification in which reference is made to the accompanying drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective of a box of tags showing a portion of the corner of the box and its cover broken away to reveal the arrangement of the layers of tags and my improved separators therebetween Fig. 2 is a side view of the box with the cover removed and showing the upper portion in longitudinal section so as to illustrate one complete row of tags between the upwardly flanged ends of the separator;

(Cl. 20G-65) Fig. 3 is a side View of the picker with a row of tags-held thereon;

Fig. 4 is an end yView of the picker of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is a perspective of one of the tags on a slightly enlarged scale.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring rst to Fig. 5, the tags 6 with which my invention deals are each made up of a U- shaped sheet metal body 'l having a cloth covering 8, the ends 9 of which are folded into the tag, as vshown in Fig. 5, and retained by the spurs IB that project from the sheet metal body through the cloth covering, ie spurs being ultimately intended to be imbedded in the material of the garment to which the tag is applied so as to hold the tag in place on the garment. Obviously, the shape of the tag is not conducive to easy packing and handling, and yet it is essential that the tags be packed in rows, open side up, layer upon layer, so that they can be handled in multiple, a row at a time, instead of singly. A picker such as that sho-wn at Ii has been used, having teeth I2 arranged to be entered frictionally in the tags, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, so as to permit transferring the tags, a row at a time, from the package to the tag aflxing or applying machine. In the past, the tags were packed in cardboard boxes with the tags arranged in rows, layer upon layer, and ordinary flat cardboard partitions or separators laid horizontally between the layers. However, I have found that despite due care in the packing of the tags in the rst instance and great care'in the unpacking, there seemed to be no Way of preventing a certain amount of jumbling of tags. It seemed that the endmost tags could not be held upright despite every precaution and when one tag got turned sidewise, the neighboring tags in that row usually-got turned too and, furthermore, the upset would usually be transmitted from one layer to the next layer below with-the result that the whole box of tags would get more or less jumbled. The operator would then have to rearrange the tags before he coulduse the picker to remove the tags from the box and that meant a lot of tedious and time consuming work. Most laundries Went so far as to make up a frame to hold the box of tags rigidly, in an effort to guard against bulging out of the ends of the box during unpacking and in that way minimize the likelihood of getting the tags jumbled, but even with such precaution, I have found that the annoyance still persisted to a certain extent, the reason being that there was still the possibility for tags on the ends of rows to be forced down past the edges of the separators into the layers Vof tags beneath and thus cause the whole boxful to become disarranged. The package improved in-accordance with my invention, as hereinafter described, avoids the objections mentioned and minimizes the likelihood of any jumbling of tags, besides making it unnecessary to frame the box for unpacking.

In accordance with my invention, an ordinary cardboard box I3 and cover I4 of the same material is suitable for the packing of the tags in rows, layer upon layer, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, when the separators I5 of cardboard or other similar material interposed horizontally between the layers, as shown, are provided with upwardly flanged ends I6 to provide lateral support for the endmost tags more or less independently of the adjacent side or end walls of the box. 'I'he ends I6 are spaced the exact distance required to receive a row of 25 tags, side by side, as in Fig. 2. Then, too, the box I3 is made of a size to t the separators to be used therein to receive each separator with the lateral edges and flanged ends I6 in more or less-snug engagement with the inside thereof, tight engagement being unnecessary when the separators are of proper material to give the desired stiffness, especially when flanged. The resulting advantages are as follows- (1) Each row is kept intact because the ends I 6 of the cooperating separator or tray I5 give proper lateral support for the endmost tags. In other words, the endmost tags of the various rows do not any longer depend directly and individually upon the end walls of the box for lateral support. y,

(2) The upwardly flanged ends I6 `of each separator give the desired reenforcement not only to the separator itself but also to the end walls of the box so that buckling and flexing is minimized and there is no necessity for placing the box in a frame during removal of the tags. In other words, the ends of the separator are not apt to iiex downwardly under the pressure applied when the picker is inserted in a row of tags, and, in that way, the tags in the layer or layers beneath are guarded against being jumbled. Furthermore, the flanged ends of the separator provide cross-supports for the ends of the box and also result'in doubled thickness of supporting walls at the ends of the rows, and hence there is less likelihood of outward bulging, which was heretofore a principal factor in the jumbling of tags.

(3) Each separator serves to keep its layer of tags completely separated and isolated from the next layer below, so that the latter is protected against disturbance in the removal of tags from the layer above. In other words, it is impossible for tags from the ends of any rows to be forced down past the edges of the Vseparators into layers therebeneath and cause disarrangement.

(4) The tags are uniformly well supported; the top layer has its ends just as Well protected against upsetting as the bottom layer in the box, or any intermediate layer, and the ends of the Vends of the separators or trays against buckling outwardlyand even though there may be a certain amount of buckling of these end walls, the flanged ends of the separators or trays protect the tags against jumbling.

(6) The flanging 'of the ends of the separators or trays does not add materially to the cost of the package.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the present invention.

VWhile the invention has been described as applied to the packaging of U-shaped laundry tags, it will, of course, be understood that it is not limited to that specific use, but is applicable generally to the packaging of any tags or any other articles of similar shape or characteristics, wherever similar problems in the matter ofmaintaining the arrangement of the articles may arise. The appended claims have been drawn so as to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. In a package of U-shaped laundry tags, a box of ilexible sheet material having upright end and side walls and containing layers of U-shaped laundry tags disposed side to side and open end up inparallel rows, and a horizontal separator of flexible sheet material interposed between superimposed layers of tags, the separator being formed at the ends to provide upwardly projecting flanges engaging the sides of the endmost tags of the rows to provide lateral support therefor independently of engagement with the adjacent side 'walls of the box, said flanges in turn bearing against the inside of the adjacent walls of the box so as to be maintained in upright position.

2. A storage and shipment package for U-shaped laundry tags to facilitate the transferring of the tags a row at a time on a picker comb, comprising a plurality of substantially parallel trays disposed in stacked relation in a container, each tray comprising a iiat piece of material having upwardly bent ends, the trays being disposed in the container with said upwardly bent ends in abutment with the adjacent end walls of the container and each tray supporting the next tray above on said upwardly' bent ends, the upwardly bent ends being of a height approximately equal to the overall length of one of the tags, and each tray having therein a plurality of rows of tags disposed open end up and in side to side engagement With each other for mutual support and with the endmost tags in abutment with and supported laterally by the upwardly bent ends of the tray, substantially as and for the purpose described.

WILLIAM BORCI-IERT. 

